Windows installs programs in C:\Program Files directory by default
- You might want to change it if your C drive is running out of free space.
- Some programs may not give you the option of chossing your directory upon installation
- This should work with Windows XP, 2000, Vista and Windows 7 (I haven't checked Windows 8 yet).
Guide
- Check your free space on your planned default directory (You may also want to consider the speed of the drive)
- I use a solid state drive for my OS, my main programs (Antivirus, MS Office, Adobe, and whatever game I am playing at the time)
- You need to do a small registry change
- Type “regedit” in start menu search box (or the Run box for XP) and press the "Enter" key
- Navigate to the following registry key in the Registry Editor HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion
- Locate the value named “ProgramFilesDir”
- Change the default value “C:\Program Files” to your new directory path (address)
- Close the registry editor
- Reboot your system to apply the change
Printer frozen or can't delete queued job
- Click "start"
- Type "Run"
- Type "Services"
- Open "Services" Program
- Scroll down the list in the right pane and find "Print Spooler"
- Right-click "Print Spooler"
- Select "stop" (This will stop the computer running the process that holds print queues)
- Minimize the "Services" window (Or just leave it open)
- Click "Start"
- Select "My Computer" (Opens Windows Explorer window)
- Note: You've stopped the queue service, now you have to clear the jam that is already there
- Navigate to the print spool folder. Most likely C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\spool\\PRINTERS (Yours may be slightly different)
- Note: Windows may warn you that you are about to view system files. Click "View files anyway" message and find the "spool folder"
- Open the "Printers" folder